It's Only Forever
by lisa602
Summary: It's been three years since Sarah beat the Labyrinth and Jareth somehow comes to take her back to the Underground. Her dreams of freedom are being shattered by the one person she had hoped never to see again, but in her captivity she is able to see a side of him that he'd never shown to anyone and finds that she can grow to care for the arrogant Goblin King.
1. Reflection

"Are you kidding me?!" Sarah asked her stepmother. "Did we go back in time to the nineteenth century, or something?"

This did not deter the woman who had just offered setting up a ball and inviting complete strangers to meet her reclusive stepdaughter. "Since you refuse to befriend anyone, I thought you might need a bit of a boost. Not only that but you should be dating!"

Since what happened in the Labyrinth three years ago, she hadn't found much interest in regular people and regular life. There was no adventure!

During the day she was the Sarah who acted things out, memorizing lines and daydreaming. At night, she would party in her room with her friends from the Underground without her father and stepmother ever hearing a peep or seeing them.

Sarah just rolled her eyes at her stepmother's reasoning. "It's my life, not yours!" Then she stamped off into her room.

Her room was different than it had been when her baby half-brother, Toby, was taken into the Labyrinth by the Goblin King. Instead of all the old junk and toys, she had a piano taking up part of the room and a box of costumes she'd recently bought for practice on her acting.

She'd taken up the piano to give her friends a bit of entertainment. It had been funny for them to start with, considering every time she messed up she'd give a screech of frustration about it. As she got better they, and even she, began to enjoy it.

She sat down at the piano, deciding a slow waltz would calm her down. Picking out a piece of music, she placed it on her stand, put her fingers in place for the beginning, and played. Every tension slipped away and her muscles relaxed.

This was a process that helped her out whenever her stepmother crossed the line. Sarah knew she never meant to, but she also knew that she'd be happy the moment she got out of the house for college and beyond. She'd be free at last!

Her dreams could never stray too far away for her, she could always look farther even than twenty years.

"Baby steps, Sarah," her father would remind her over and over again. "Don't set goals that are too high for you or you'll end up getting disappointed."

She gave a long, drawn out sigh. Sarah knew very well that there could be some repercussions with all her wishes. Look what almost happened to Toby! Look at all that almost happened to her while going to save Toby! Look at the place where she had been tempted to stay!... well, actually, she had to admit she'd enjoyed the Labyrinth, even with its dangerous twists and turns, and the Bog of Eternal Stench.

But she certainly wouldn't admit to wanting Jareth's terms of staying. 'Love him and let him rule me? _Not likely!_'

Sometimes she wondered if it wasn't just the "let me rule you" he'd said that had deterred her and made her more determined to get her brother and herself out of there.

"Don't think of it that way, Sarah," she mumbled to herself once more. "You've won already, stop moaning about what's happened since."

Music she hadn't heard in three years sprang up in her thoughts, the lyrics being sung were as gentle and caring as when she first heard them:

"_As the pain sweeps through_

_Makes no sense for you_

_Every thrill has gone_

_Wasn't too much fun at all_

_But I'll be there for you_

_As the world falls down_."

She stopped playing the piano and the music that filled her mind also stopped. Had she been playing that? No, she didn't know how to play the song…. Shaking her head, she put the cover over the piano keys and leaned back on the bench to look across the room at the music box that had a girl in a white ball gown posing on it.

If it was what had been making the music, it showed no indication that it had moved or been touched. Dust covered it, and Sarah hadn't ever gotten the duster to brush any of it off - had even gone so far as to tell her father and stepmother not to dust it. All it did was remind her of how hard Jareth had tried to make her forget about her quest and lose track of the limited time she'd had to save her brother.

She left it covered with dust, yet she didn't quite know why she continued to keep it. Perhaps because it reminded about just how strong she could be.

Sarah recalled the last words she had ever said to Jareth, having quoted the book she'd memorized lined from for her play. The very line she used to have a lot of trouble remembering, but what now never left the innermost pits of her mind. "You have no power over me." There were never words any truer than those.

* * *

**Goodness, so sorry about that everyone! I had decided to do something new yesterday and did copy & paste instead of the usual 'choose a document'. I guess it doesn't put paragraph breaks into account :| sorry again, should have checked before I went to bed, hopefully you'll find it okay now without that paragraph problem!**


	2. Mind Games

"I'm not going!" Sarah shouted out stubbornly from inside her room. She sat in front of her vanity, finishing up leftover homework, and had only stopped to turn and yell at the door. No one understood when her decisions were final.

"Come on, Sarah, it could be good for you," her father said from the other side of the door.

"I didn't realize my stepmother had turned you over to the dark side."

"Sarah!"

"There's nothing to say about that ball except 'no!' Now go, you're going to be late."

He sighed from the other side. "Toby's in bed now. We'll be back before midnight." She heard his footsteps fade away down the stairs and the click of the door as it closed behind the two of them.

"Does anyone want to play another game of scrabble?" she heard Sir Didymus ask.

Sarah giggled and turned to see her closer friends scattered throughout the room. The others had long since stopped coming, but she never cared so long as she still had Sir Didymus, Ambrosias, Ludo, and Hoggle visiting her.

"Ludo play brother," Ludo said as Sir Didymus pulled out the scrabble board.

"Uh, Sarah?" Hoggle said, edging toward the door. "Can I talk to you.. er, in private?"

"Oh," she replied in surprise, "sure." She opened the door and they stepped into the hallway. Sarah started to get worried, in all the years her friends had visited her, none of them ever had to talk to her in private. So seriously, too. "What's the problem?" she whispered.

"I think Jareth's planning something…" he said, looking around nervously as though Jareth might pop out at them. "Something suspicious."

She quickly knelt down next to him in a panic, "What is he planning?"

"I - I don't know, that's the problem. He's been walking around lately with a - a _smile_ on his face. He hasn't _smiled _since before you beat him at his own Labyrinth!"

Sarah thought about that a bit, but she shook her head. "He can't be planning anything to do with me. I beat him, and there's no loop out of -"

"You told him he has no power over you, there's no magic or spoken deal behind that!" Hoggle practically shrieked. "He has deals with other kingdoms and they have _never _made him this happy. I'm telling you, he's up to something and it's not going to be good."

"But… he doesn't have any power over me. Jareth can't break that!"

"Sarah. He may have found some way to do just that."

She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. What could Jareth do to break her words over him? There couldn't be a loophole. And nothing would change her mind about the decision she made.

"He can't have," she finally said. "Nothing has changed since then… if there was a way out, he would have found it long before now… right?"

Hoggle groaned. But before he could reply, Ambrosias rushed out of the partly-closed door and knocked Sarah over in his wild escape into Toby's room just across the hall. The door slammed shut behind him.

"_Ambrosias_!" Sir Didymus screeched after him, showing up in the doorway.

"What happened?" Sarah asked, lifting herself up to take a look in her room. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, except the Scrabble board was on the ground with all the pieces scattered across the floor.

"I don't know! He just ran away!"

"Let me go get Merlin," she said, "you know he is always able to calm Ambrosias down." Making her way down the stairs, Sarah whistled "Merlin! Merlin?"

The shaggy dog padded his way up the stairs and followed her, panting happily. She opened up the door to Toby's room, glad that her stepmother hadn't put up a lock on it just yet. Merlin slipped right in and she left the dogs to their own devices.

There was no knowing what had scared Ambrosias so much since no one could speak 'dog,' not even Sir Didymus, but knowing Ambrosias' lack of courage it might have only been a spider.

Back in her room, Ludo and Sir Didymus were picking up the Scrabble pieces.

"Now we won't know who would have won!" Sir Didymus complained.

Sarah smiled, bending over to pick up a few pieces around the room. "It's okay, Sir Didymus. I know you would have won."

Ludo emitted a "Huh?" while Sir Didymus did a bow.

"_Thank_ you, my lady!"

"Ah, she's too sweet on you," Hoggle said with a wave of his hand.

She chuckled, picking up some more pieces that had surprisingly strewn across the room to her vanity. As she stood up, her face went just by the music box and she stopped there to gaze at it. Not a speck of dust was on it.

Standing up straight, she pointed to it, "Did any of you touch this?"

Her friends looked at the music box and shook their heads in turn, shrugging in uncertainty.

She froze, and looked at it again. The image of the dream Jareth had forced her into burned brightly in her mind, stronger than ever, along with the cleanliness of the music box. The way he'd looked at her as they danced. The way he had held her so close.

Her anger shot through. Picking it up, she stormed over to her trash can and forcefully dropped it in. When she looked back at her friends, they stared at her incredulously.

"Don't ask," she muttered, bringing the Scrabble pieces she still held to them and dropping it in the bag.

Once she'd put the bag and board into the box and put it back, she sat down at her piano to play. She didn't even take out music. Just played any old tune that came to mind and she was able to breathe normally again.

The front door opened and closed downstairs. Sarah turned around to see that her friends had disappeared, which likely included Ambrosias.

Sighing, she walked out and went to Toby's room to retrieve Merlin, sending him back to her own room.

Her stepmother hated it when Merlin went into Toby's room. She never liked him, though he was a very good dog and never disobeyed.

"Toby?" she said softly, looking in on her little brother. He still slept, thank goodness, no longer in a crib in his parents' room. He was curled up in a ball, his blonde hair disheveled, with Lancelot held tightly in his arms.

"Sarah, we're home!" she heard her father say, along with his hurried steps coming up the stairs.

She came out of Toby's room to meet him in the hallway. "There weren't any problems," she said promptly.

"Great! Now… about this ball -"

"- dad -"

"Come on, Sarah, we even bought you a dress."

She took a step away from him toward her room, "Why would you do that? I'm not going!"

"It's for you -"

"- no! I don't want to have a ball, and you two better not make one." She stepped into her room and slammed the door shut.

About a minute passed and a piece of paper was slid under the door. "They were giving these quotes out at the restaurant we dined at. I don't know, but I thought you might like it," her dad then went back down the stairs.

Sarah picked it up, "You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present" (John Green).

She gasped, reading it over and over again in her mind. Her dad probably thought of how all she did was dream about the future, but the fact that 'labyrinth' was a word in the quote…

Walking over to the trash can, she picked up the music box and looked it over. The posing girl still brought the memory of that dance party - was the ball her father and stepmother wanted to set up for her about to be just like it? Would Jareth show up? Would he reveal his plan, if he had one?... What was the dress they had gotten her?

She quickly made her way down the stairs. Noting the fact her father and stepmother were talking quietly in the kitchen, her eyes were drawn to the dress on the table in the center of the foyer. It was the same dress!

Closing her eyes, she jarringly shook her head a few times, and looked again. Same dress.

She walked over to it and touched the silver fabric, her mind recalling the feel of it when she'd worn it in that dream. As if it had really happened.

"Do you like it?" her father asked, coming over to stand next to her.

"It's beautiful," she said, and it was. Puffed up just enough, not too much, to be a wedding gown. The gold trim gave it the aura of a fantasy.

Her stepmother took that chance to jump in, "Not only that, but I've also got these accessories." She showed her the earrings, the necklace, and the matching hair accessories, the same as she'd last worn. How was Jareth getting into her head like this?

"Where did you get all of this?" Sarah asked her slowly.

"Oh, some nice man in a nearby shop was giving these away half-off. They were so pretty, I knew you'd look wonderful in them."

'Why is she being so nice?' "I guess you're still going to plan for the ball…"

"Of course."

In her mind, she did a mental check. So Jareth was going to play around with her. Fine, then, she'll play his game again, and win to top it off. "Can you make it a masquerade?"

* * *

**Bear with me, I know that quote from John Green wasn't published or even a thought back in that time but... you gotta admit, it's a great one and I think it gives great meaning to my story. (Parenthesis are points made that not a part of story, just wanted to cite who that quote is from)**


	3. Preparation

Sarah lay lazily on her bed in her room, wondering if she should have finally agreed to the ball. What if that was exactly what Jareth wanted her to do? Even if she hadn't said yes to it, let alone asking for it to be a masquerade, would she have won or lost that round?... now her head hurt.

"Stop thinking about it," she grumbled to herself, placing her hand on her forehead. As if that would put an end to the pain and her doubting thoughts.

She just had to tread _lightly_. If this ball was going to be anything like that dream he put her through, there were about to be mind boobytraps _everywhere_ around her. Jareth's unpredictability skyrocketed through the roof with everything he did in relation to her. With making her go through the Labyrinth in order to save Toby, and ordering time to work around her journey, he'd thought he was being generous. Hah!

Sitting up, she looked around her room. She'd grown up since the Labyrinth. No more toys, no more memoirs of her mother, just everything that she used and that was age-appropriate for her. Except for that music box.

It still bothered her how Ambrosias had run out of her room and her music box was no longer covered in three year old dust. She had thought he might have been frightened off by a spider, but with all of this now on her mind again, she thought back on it. What if Jareth had appeared in her room and only Ambrosias had seen him?

She shivered, 'Jareth better _not_ have come into my room. It's bad enough he appeared in my dad and stepmom's room three years ago.'

Sarah looked over at the alarm clock on her bedside table. Her dad and stepmom had gone out an hour ago to get the venue ready for the ball the very next day…. So where were her friends?

She'd wanted to run through what was about to happen with the ball - as much as she knew, anyway. Sure, they'd try to talk her out of it, but she wanted to let them know. And perhaps this time they could help her out with outwitting Jareth, too.

"Hoggle? Ludo? Sir Didymus? Where are you guys?" she asked softly. "I need you…"

Nothing. What was keeping them?

"_It's only forever_

_Not long at all._

_Lost and lonely_

_No one can blame you_

_For walking away,_

_But too much rejection, uh huh_

_No love injection, no_

_Life can be easy_

_It's not always swell_

_Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl_

'_Cause it hurts like hell_

_But down in the underground_

_You'll find someone true,_

_Down in the underground…_"

Sarah found herself closing her eyes contentedly until she remembered the radio wasn't on and she recognized whose voice was singing, She quickly sat up and looked around. The song ended, but she could feel a pair of eyes staring at her.

A quick look out the window showed Sarah that familiar blonde owl.

"What, you couldn't wait until the ball?" she asked, glad that her window was closed… then again, that never stopped him before.

The owl continued to sit and stare.

It suddenly dawned on her that he was there instead of her friends. "Wait… Jareth, what did you do to my friends?"

She could hear the light hooting through the window as if he were laughing.

Sarah glared, clenching her teeth. "When I see you at the ball, I hope you'll be ready for a deal." Then she proceeded to stand up and make her way across the room to close the curtains with a sharp _whoosh_.

Standing there alone once again, she sighed. 'What was I thinking offering a deal? What can I give in return to free my friends?'

'Hold on there, Sarah,' that little voice at the back of her mind said. 'Jareth didn't say that he had them.'

'Of course he didn't explicitly state that, he was an owl!... why is my brain talking to itself?' She rubbed her forehead with her index fingers. 'What can I do?'

The next day, she was startled awake by her stepmother opening up the curtains to let the midday sun seep through the room and settle on Sarah's face. She scrunched up her nose and turned around to bury her face into a pillow.

"Sarah," the woman admonished, throwing back the covers. "It's time to get you ready for the ball."

She lifted her head to glance at her clock. "At noon? It's at five, I can sleep for at least two more hours!"

Her stepmother placed her hands on her hips, "It take a few hours for hair and makeup. Not only that, but you need to take your time fitting into the dress –"

"Next you'll be telling me I need to get used to my shoes," Sarah grumbled sarcastically.

"Exactly!"

"I was being sarcastic! What kind of shoes am I wearing, anyways?... They're not heels are they?" She thought back to the dream, but she hadn't had any problems walking around nor did she have pain in her feet.

"No, they're flats. Now get out of bed, I've got to get started on your hair."

Sarah groaned audibly.


	4. The Ball

Sarah looked at her reflection in the mirror some hours later and, had she not had that dream thanks to Jareth three years ago, she couldn't say she would recognize herself. While her face was the same, except for the makeup, her hair was more voluminous after being excessively curled. Without having to tell her stepmother anything, she looked just as she had then… so why didn't that feel creepy?

She spun around at her stepmother's insistence, feeling like a fairy princess… no wait, not a fairy. Fairies were mean, apparently. No, a disney princess was more like it, the glitter was certainly there.

"Go down into the foyer to wait, I'm going to grab your father, a camera, and then we'll be on our way," her stepmother told her excitedly.

"Wait," Sarah said, "who's going to look after Toby?"

"The babysitter is here now. I tell you, it's amazing that we found her in such a small amount of time, but your father is telling her all the necessities that Toby needs. Don't worry, just go downstairs to wait."

"But -"

"_Now_, dear," she said warningly.

Sighing, Sarah made her way down the stairs. She shouldn't be worrying about Toby at a time like this - didn't _have_ to worry. Jareth had no business with him, but with her, the babysitter that was there probably _was _just a lucky find. Jareth would be at the ball. She was sure of it. Positive about it.

A peek wouldn't go amiss, either.

She had been walking down the stairs, but now she picked up the front of the dress to go sprinting back up. Peeking into Toby's room, the girl there looked very normal. While Jareth might be a master of disguise, there was no way he could have made a human face look so realistic. The girl was plain looking - that seemed to be in order.

Her father noticed her scrutinizing gaze, causing the girl to turn and look at her. Yup, definitely normal. "Go downstairs, Sarah," her dad said, "Toby will be fine."

How could she disagree with that reassuring smile of his? She nodded and walked down the stairs once more. Since that was all fine, she thought again on what she might trade to save her friends - if he did, indeed, kidnap her friends. But… what if she was worrying over nothing? This might just be the easiest night of her life, perhaps even easier than the Labyrinth.

She smiled, thinking, 'It still was a piece of cake, no matter what trouble he put me through just for saying it.' Then she became pensive again, 'Besides… I have nothing to trade with him if he has my friends. There's nothing I have that he wants, so I'll be safe. Yet, what does he want in terms of why he's somehow gotten it in my head to have this ball tonight? Why now? Why at all?'

"I hope you're not planning on making that face at the ball, you're guests are going to be too scared to approach you," her stepmother said, walking down the stairs.

Sarah frowned, "What look?"

"You're brooding. Never brood for parties. Be alive and alert, always smiling." Her gestures along with this lesson caused Sarah to cock an eyebrow and wrinkle her nose.

"Just be lucky I agreed to it, okay? I didn't sign up for this to become a little Pollyanna who is always looking on the bright side of everything."

"Well, why not? You're a great actress, surely you can at least pretend to be a happy, joyful being while you're there. A social outing could do you justice, and even get you a respectable boyfriend. Now, don't you want that?"

'So a compliment and then an assumption. Clever.' She nearly rolled her eyes until she thought on it. What if she pretended to be so involved in talking to other people that it would make Jareth think he hadn't gotten into her head after all? Well… actually her conversation at him last night probably did the trick. Ugh! He always seemed to be one step ahead! How?!

"Come on, we don't want to be late," her father said, rushing down the stairs.

They went outside into the cool night air. Sarah stood on the porch step for a moment and breathed in the fresh air. Let it out. She wanted to be as clear-headed as possible. Who knew what sort of ordeal this would be?

The ball. Held in a large ballroom in this big four star hotel, decorated with gold and white balloons and looking… well… like that dream. A very prestige, very fancy room that, at that moment, was full of people in masks. She'd nearly forgotten that people were going to wear masks, except for her - and as far as she knew, Jareth would not wear a mask unless he was planning on seeing if she would become uncomfortable with the tension of waiting for him to show up.

No, no tension at all, she was going to be completely relaxed.

Sarah's stepmother immediately brought her around the room to socialize with everyone. She had no time to spare even a second thought for running into Jareth, her thoughts went right into remembering names and making conversation.

Tall guys, short guys, funny guys, dull guys, smart guys… it was almost scary how different they all were from each other. That and, well, they were all nearly too perfect, she felt so meager in comparison to them with her flaws. She didn't feel comfortable with them for that very reason, like they were out of her league. It was so unfair.

Dancing the night away; she now knew what that was like. It wasn't exactly exciting to see a new face each time and to continue moving. Her feet were getting sore.

Another dance later, she snuck away to the refreshment table and took a seat next to it. She picked up a glass of punch and brought it to her lips, took a sip. She didn't realize how many guys would ask her to dance with them, always thought her stepmother was just appealing to her good side whenever she told her how beautiful she was. But still, she wasn't flawless…

All these men flocking to her after every dance reinforced her image of the nineteenth century when women chose their suitors by going out to parties to find eligible bachelors. It's just that for this, she was apparently looking for a boyfriend and _not_ a husband.

Would this sort of party be a part of Jareth's world? It seemed like it was, considering the dream he'd put her through, and that such a glimpse into his world had been his first invitation for her to join him. If her decision had been to stay, what would she be doing right now instead of being stuck with her stepmother's vain hopes for her stepdaughter?

She vigorously shook her head. What was she _doing_, thinking like that? First time Jareth goes through her mind all night and she thinks of three years ago, thinking of a different decision she could have possibly made. Unbelievable! He had no power -

"Sarah," a soft voice broke into her thoughts.

Her head snapped up to look around only to see no one there. Literally. Everyone that had been in the room disappeared, and there was no trace left that there had been any party… only her father and stepmother looking like they were caught in a trance.


	5. A New Deal

She jumped to her feet in horror. An illusion. She was played like a puppet! Of course! Well, at least she wasn't under any sort of spell… she better not be. "Jareth…!"

Jareth walked up to her from the deepest shadows of the room. The first time she'd seen him in three years and he had the gall to smirk!

He still had that long, wild blonde hair, and wore the bedazzled outfit that he'd worn in the dream. It was black with sparkly blue fabric on the arms of his jacket, white ruffles from the neck down his chest, and blue and black jewels along his shoulders. The sickle shaped pendant hung around his neck as always.

"What do you want from me?" she asked coldly.

"My, Sarah, you act so hostile. Are you not happy to see me?"

"I wouldn't act in any other way after what you put me through… but, you didn't answer my question. _What do you want from me_?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously. "No…" she replied slowly.

He smiled mischievously, taking out a crystal and rolling it around in his hands. She hated how mesmerizing it was. She couldn't think straight when he did that, and he obviously knew it.

"Sarah, what did I ask you for last time I saw you?"

She clenched her hands, remembering very clearly his last proposition:

"_Stop! Wait! Look, Sarah. Look at what I'm offering you," he took out a crystal and held it out to her. "Your dreams." _

_She continued, recalling each word of the speech as she spoke. "And my kingdom is great."_

_Jareth began getting desperate. "I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want."_

_Sarah paused, trying hard to remember the next line. That one line. "Kingdom is great…damn! I can never remember that line."_

_Jareth looked nearly relieved by this as he said, "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave."_

"_My kingdom is great…my kingdom is great…" Suddenly, Sarah remembered it and looked up at Jareth triumphantly. "You have no power over me. You have no power over me!" _

"Oh, that…." One glance at her father and stepmother showed her that they were still under his spell. "But I'm sure you know that my answer is still no. _You have no power_ -"

He quickly cut her off. "It won't be any longer. See here, Sarah, I have your parents under my control. Everything about this ball has been an illusion… even the babysitter." Every bit of information was a stab to her chest. Toby…. How could she not have realized all the unrealistic ways in which her stepmother found everything?

"And…" he held out his crystal for her to look into it. "About last night…. You assumed correctly. I have your friends."

Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Ambrosias were standing around in a thick, wooden cage, shaking it about and screaming to get out. Below them bubbled the Bog of Eternal Stench. Goblins were off to the side, holding the rope to keep them from falling in.

"You're horrible!" she bursted out. "You can't do this!"

"I just did," he said nonchalantly.

"But -"

"This ball did just what I wanted it to do. You changed your mind. And that shows exactly the amount of power I truly have over you… all the power in the world, Sarah."

She shook her head in denial, "No -"

"Every time you are alone, you get so close to thinking about the decision you could have made. I have been there each time to push you in that direction, but you are always able to push away from it. Once I brought the Labyrinth into your surroundings, you began to open up… and now you're mine."

She backed away from him. "You can't do that. Why can't you just leave me alone? Just - just let them go and leave me alone, I'm not going _anywhere_ with you!"

He didn't answer right away. Instead rolled the crystal ball around in his hands again, looking at her with those eyes that pierced her soul.

"Did you hear me?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Put it this way, Sarah:" he said, walking around her almost as though it were an interrogation. "The more you resist and reject me, the more you force my hand. Choose wisely; either way, I win." Jareth gave a knowing smirk, infuriating her even further.

Her chances of leading a normal life were going down the drain."How - how about a deal?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "No more remembering lines from a book to help you deal with me, Sarah, I want you to be my queen. So here's the only deal I'll offer; come with me. Live in my castle at the center of the Labyrinth with me and I will allow for life to go on as normal for this family of yours."

She shifted her gaze from him to look at the crystal warily. "And… And save my friends from the Bog of Eternal Stench?"

Jareth smiled, "Of course."

Sarah took a deep breath. She did _not_ want to do this… after all this, was she really about to go back to the Labyrinth and _stay_ there? But…. well, what else could she do? If she wouldn't be able to say the line that would save her from him just because her mind somehow thought something else… then again, how would Jareth know that?

"Just don't intrude in my private thoughts again," she mumbled. He went to stand in front of her, and held out the crystal.

"We have a deal?"

She glared at him, though knowing the action wouldn't help her in the least. He continued waiting. Since when did _he_ get over his impatient nature?

"Deal," she finally said, her hand shaking as she took the crystal from him and held it out before her. She gasped as it turned into a bronze ring with topaz-colored rock on top of it… the ring she'd given away three years ago in the Labyrinth.

Around her, the party started up once again, and she numbly watched as Jareth made his way through the crowd to speak with her parents.


End file.
